Foreign Affairs

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has cancelled his US visit originally planned for the third week of July, after months of efforts to schedule a one-on-one meeting with President Joe Biden failed.

Highly placed sources told NepalMinute that a meeting between the two leaders could not be set up: “After Biden’s office couldn’t schedule one-on-one with Deuba, the Nepali side has shelved the Prime Minister’s US visit plan for now.”

Deuba was planning to visit Washington DC sometime in July, but the latest development effectively ends his plan to visit the US capital and hold bilateral talks on a range of issues – just in time before general election later this year.

Biden administration's latest move is seen as a strong diplomatic message to Kathmandu, and it follows Nepal’s rejection of the US State Partnership Program (SPP), a security collaboration between USA’s National State Guards and Nepali Army that, US recently clarified, Nepal itself wished to join.

In a detailed seven-page letter to the White House on Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister's Office indicated that the Deuba government is under “tremendous pressure from China and India to shelve the proposed SPP” with the US.

After drafts of SPP documents were leaked to the press in June, top Nepali officials including Foreign Minister and Chief of Nepali Army told a House committee meeting that Nepal would not be part of SPP, and that "the issue need not be dragged any further". 

Amidst the hullabaloo, the Council of Ministers too decided along the same line, stating that Nepal would not be part of SPP as suggested by top officials. However, the government has yet to notify that decision to Washington in writing.

The sources meanwhile said Prime Minister Deuba has “instructed the Foreign Minister to put that process on hold until the elections” due for November. In his letter to the White House, the sources said, “the Prime Minister has reiterated his position to pass SPP after a Nepali Congress government returns to power after the elections”. 

The government of Nepal - or its Ministry of Foreign Affairs - has yet to formally clarify on the development.

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